April 2010

April 29, 2010

"I am very flattered to be linked with a prestigious club like Manchester United.They
are a top team and on a same level as Madrid. The Premier League is
also the top league in the world, so let's wait and see.

I am not playing a lot and at the end of the season I will discuss my situation with all parties and a decision will be taken.I want to play week in, week out like all top players."

His namesake Lassana Diarrahas been linked to a United move as well. With speculation rife that Madrid are interested in VIdic and now Evra, there are rumors of Madrid wanting a player exchange deal . Never going to happen.

The last one for today is a purported £25 million move for Spurs midfielder Luka Modric. This is solely fuelled by Fergie's comment in the match programme :

“And I give you another wee man who’ll be at Old Trafford this afternoon: Luka
Modric, who is playing out of his skin at the moment”

This has journos believing Fergie is eyeing Modric as a long term Scholes replacement - like that was even possible. Even though these are pure speculations, it's interesting that most of the early names are midfielders and not strikers as those must have been the easiest rumors to fuel at this stage. But I guess there's plenty of time left in the summer to indulge in that.

April 21, 2010

I have to say I disagree with the comments Peter Shilton made about Ben Foster this week.

The former England 'keeper, who I suppose with 125 caps to his name, does have the right to voice an opinion, believes Foster should leave Old Trafford in order to save his England career.

I can see his point. Shilton is arguing that first team football is vital to any 'keeper with England aspirations and had Foster played more this season he would have been in contention for a World Cup spot.

Although, given the desperate state of our goalkeepers at the moment this isn't very difficult. England are third favourites in the World Cup odds but without a quality 'keeper they will struggle.

However, I believe that if Foster does leave he would be making a mistake.

First of all United's number one, Edwin Van Der Sar is 40 this year and he clearly won't be playing for much longer. Foster already gets opportunities to show his talent in cup games so he does get time on the park.

And from what we have seen he has not yet convinced us he is ready to be England's number one anyway so what use would more games be? It is the question mark over his ability and not a lack of games that has stopped him claiming and England spot.

Also to be understudy to such an experienced keeper is a bonus. Foster should watch and learn from the Dutchman knowing that in one or two years he will have the chance to succeed him.

The likes of Nigel Martyn, David Seaman and even Shilton himself played into their late 30s and early 40s, so the goalkeeper's shelf life is a lot longer than that of outfield players. Foster, who turned 27 this month, has time on his side and needn't panic.

Also if he does leave, where will he go? Manchester United are the biggest club in the world, so leaving them will always be a step down.

The rest of the big four, Spurs, Villa, Everton and even City have established number ones so his isn't guaranteed games there either.

You rarely get a second chance at United so if Foster jumped ship I think he would live to regret it.

Meanwhile, the Premier League odds suggest United are still in with an excellent chance of landing yet another title.

April 08, 2010

I would have taken a CL QF place and a top 3 finish in the league before the start of this season. We've enjoyed 3 great years with 3 league titles and 2 CL finals to show for it.And at this level it's very hard to stay at the top for long. And with the departures of you know who, virtually no one gave us a chance at the start of the season. So with that context, the fact that we were involved at this stage of the CL and with a reasonable though dwindling chance at the league, it isn't a bad season at all.

However what makes it hard to swallow is the manner of the defeat. Coasting 1-0 away from home with hardly 15 mins to go and then 3-0 up and away at home within the first half. You expect United to win from those situations. Fergie's bitter reaction at the end tells the story. I'm sure he would have had some words with Rafael as that was the incident that changed the game. You can argue all year on how that was or wasn't a justified sending off but he has the tendency to get carried away on a lot of occasions.

Some observations from the game:

Fully fit Berbatov or a struggling/limping Rooney?

On that evidence, Fergie seems to think Rooney on one leg is better than Berbatov on both. Having hardly moved for the last 10 odd minutes of the half, United were effectively playing with 10 men. Should Rooney have come off at the half? Also if you are Berbatov your confidence probably took a hit last night.

Michael Carrick is having a shocker

There's no progress in Carrick's game. He's not maturing or developing any dimension of his game. There are hardly any forward passes in him and he was at fault for both of Bayern's goals yesterday. He's having a bad season and really shouldn't be in the starting eleven on form. If Hargreaves is not going to be 100%, Fergie needs to take a look at central midfield again in the summer.

Rafael needs growing up

No more 'young and inexperienced' excuses. The challenge yesterday was immature and cost us a place in the semi and arguably the finals of the CL. A Fergie rollicking is in order. He's great going forward and really creates chances but incidents like that undo all the good he brings. That's the difference between an average player and a good player.

Nani and Valencia were the bright spots

They were superb all through and playing without a striker their work rate was top notch. For all the talk about Robben, he never troubled the backline as much as Nani and Valencia who toyed with Bayern in the first half. The 3-0 lead was a testament to that.This was the biggest game of the season and they were so up for it and that's always a good sign.

Bayern were lucky

Having said all this, at the end of the day it took a wonder one-off strike to win the tie for Bayern. With another ref on another day, we would have gone through. If Robben tries that volley again 10 times, he won't get that contact and placement.We played them off the park for long periods yesterday and qualification would have been quite deserved. Shades of Porto there.

Looking ahead now, I don't have any expectation from the title run-in. Chelsea really need to throw it away now and it is highly unlikely that they will. I'm sure Fergie will ask the team to give it a go and take care of our fixtures and be in a position to take advantage should slip ups happen. But the focus now is on the areas Fergie needs to strengthen in the summer. He's signed a striker today who I know nothing about. Hargreaves situation needs to be monitored and with Scholes and Giggs playing even lesser role, we need to look at some creative midfielders to add to the squad.

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